Understanding Teens

It is a good no GREAT thing I have taught teenagers for the last 8 years.  It means that I knew that no one ever understands this crazy breed of people!  Yep, I don't understand these kids, especially D!  D might stand for her name, but it also stands for DRAMA QUEEN!!!  Goodness we can be happy playing, then angry mad, then throwing a tantrum, all with in 2 minutes.  We can go from hating someone, to wanting to stay at their house everyday in 2.5 seconds.  If I really thought I could understand teenagers coming into this chapter of life, I would be in for a rude awakening! 

On another note, I got in a package that had so much paperwork in it, it cost $5.32 to mail!  Yep that would be the beginning of adoption process.  The beginning of a home study.  I will look at those papers when we get into the house, I mean I can't do them all right now anyways, I have to draw a floor plan of the house or something.  We have 2 months left before I can officially adopt them.  Now we all know it can take longer, but the faster it gets done the better for all of us.  The kids have been in this process now for over 3 years, they are beyond ready. 

Overall it has been a week of getting ready to move.  BOXES BOXES and MORE BOXES!  We are taking a break tomorrow and going skating with the cousins (my sister-in-law and nieces).

Now to share a few moments that made me feel like a mother ( I mean this feeling is very new to me) :

1. Getting a text from D because she hurt herself at her grandparents house wanting to know what to do.  She needed me :)
2. T texting me the day they came back WE ARE COMING HOME TODAY!!!
3. Today T says "we have not spent quality family time together lately, I think we need to" 

Thanks to everyone who has passed on encouragement to me personally or through other people.  You will never know how much it has helped me get through this process of shock and feeling like a failure and moving forward and trying to create a feeling of family with the 2 kids God has trusted to me.  

Quiet

So not much to update here, the kids are at their Grandfather's house for the week.  I have been busy doing things that I want to do, so I have not done anything on my to do list for this week, but that is okay.  I am just enjoying some time without kids, this does not mean I do not miss them by any means.  T kept telling me I would be so lonely sitting here all by myself LOL!  I have not be lonely yet :) 

They come back Saturday and then we get keys to our new place the following Friday.  I am not sure which of the 3 of us are the most excited to move.  I mean I am really excited, but I do believe they may be way more excited then me! 

Blessed

I can't even begin to describe how blessed I feel right now.  My phone rings off the wall some days, is blown up with text, or Facebook messages, all of which are people offering to help, have something they are getting rid of or know someone is getting rid of something and just wondering if I need it.  God uses all kinds of people to provide for his children. 

God is amazing. He has shown me how he takes care of his children through the last 4 months, how no matter what he is always there for you (yes, even when I mess up all the time).

This verse has really stood out the last 4 months, when we really did not know what the future held for us. I mean, I still don't really, but some of it is more clear, I at least know I am adopting.  When and all of that I do not know!

This is the verse we have clung to:
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

I have known and heard this verse for a very long time.  One night when D was really struggling with the future for her, and the possibility of moving away, I shared it with her.  She has taught me how to cling because as much as I was worried about the future, it would not affect me like it would her.  I mean, I would of course miss my two brats so much, but I would still be able to contact them.  I would go back to being a single woman, living alone.  They would go to a far away place where they knew no one, and their life would change. 

I sit hear with tears, just thinking about what we have been through.  In a short 4 months, but how much God has been there with us.  The 15th will make exactly 4 months since I got these two, that I have learned to love so much. 

Okay, I have to end this blog, so I can get myself together before they wake up! 

Summer boredom...

Nothing new going on here.  Just some summer boredom.  Of course the kids have nothing to do, but nothing I think of is "fun" in their eyes.  Fun for them is staying up all night and sleeping all day.  That is just crazy to me!  Why fight sleep when you are yawning, just go to sleep :-)

We are working on packing up the house and getting ready for the move.  The kids are super excited about the move, and D has been helping pack up the house.  I can't believe that we are actually moving in approximately 20 days!  The last 4 months have been so insane!  I know I just keep repeating myself, but this day 4 months ago, I was preparing the house for the kids.  Just 3 days prior to that, I was a single woman with no worries but me.  Now I am a single mom of 2 teenagers.  God, amazes me everyday.  He has blown my mind at how much peace he has given me on this and how no matter what the need, he fulfills it. 

Obedience is not always something I am good at, let just be honest.  I know that I could be disobedient and say no, but God could not be more clear on this had he spoke through a burning bush.  I know this is what I am to do. 

Being too prideful to ask for help (besides my mom of course) is something I have struggled with for, well as long as I can remember.  I have prayed a lot about it, and spoke with some close friends about it before.  Man, God put 2 kids in my life, and there goes pride.  I mean you just gotta ask for stuff when you need it.  Something simple like boxes or prayer for attitudes. 

Well the kids are spending next week with their grandfather, what am I going to do kid free?!?!? 

Ways you can pray for us:

• pray for the move to go smoothly
• pray for us to get the home study process going and over quickly
• pray for answers for me on this adoption (I mean I have NEVER done this before!  I have to have a lawyer, I have NEVER EVER had one for anything)
• pray that I will not be fearful of being obedient, that I will trust him to provide and know that he is faithful
• pray that the kids will see Christ through everything, and how God answers our prayers and provides.
• start praying for school, that the adjustment into high school and a busy schedule with two kids in sports will go well.

Thanks for everyone's support and encouragement!  I know I could not do it without all of you!

Moving!!!

Yes!  I have finally found a 3/2 house to rent!  This allows the adoption process to get started :)  

Of course, I am staying in Navasota where my job is and the kids go to school.  We are all 3 so active with NISD that it makes the most sense to stay in the town.  Plus, why would we want to move out of it, when we all 3 love living here.  I mean, this is how I got them in the beginning.  We will be moving at the end of the month, for the most part we have all the furniture we will need.  When we get to move in, we will need to clean at the new place a little (like wiping down counter-tops).  We will have a LOT of cleaning at the current location and lots of packing to do.

Things are going very well for the summer.  Staying busy and always looking for free things to do :)

This week D and I went to the movies with my SIL and niece, we also went to Blue Bell and did the tour, then spent time at Blue Bell Aquatic Center where the girls had fun playing in the pool.

My SIL took the kids to the movies another day, while I spent time looking for a house (and found one :).  We spent July 4th, doing all the free stuff in Navasota, like swimming and lots of activities like rock climbing and some spinning thing.  Then we went to Washington on the Brazos for the fireworks and of course free Blue Bell and free Coke.

Well I had planned to end with a picture from fireworks, but every time I try to upload Firefox crashes, so I will try later.